Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-06-16
GOOD NEWS FOR SETTLERS.

!: GOOD NEWS FOR SETTLERS.
rhe Peoples Rights Nobly Protested by
| . Democratic Administrator.
The.President's instructions to Sec
.etary Lamar have been obeyed, and
The great indemnity belts of public
! and are soon to be thrown open to the
settler. It was the attempt to rob
Iuilford Miller of his farm that direct
ed the Presidents attention to the ex-
slusion of settlers from these belts.
They had been shut out not by law,
but by the action of Executive Off
GERS who were anxious to serve the
great land grant corporations. In his
letter concerning the Guilford Miller
sase, the President says:
"Aftsr lapse Of fifteen years this large body
81 the public domain is still held in reserve, to
he exclusion of settlers, for the convenience OF
corporate beneficiary of the Government, and
awaiting its selection though it is entirely GER
lain that much OF this reserved land can never
be honestly claimed by said corporation. Such
condition OF the public lands should no
longer continue. So far as it is the result OF
GAACSusAvC 30ACS oLo E4CbuOOS, tue3C SHOQl0 Dc
Rbandoned'
The Secretary now shows that four
teen land grant railroad companies
have made selections in the indemnity
belts to the full extent of their rights,
and that twenty-five have chosen in
| those belts all the land that is subject
to selection. The belts have been
closed to the settler for various terms,
ranging from two years to thirty -seven
years. Under the rulings of the de-
partment no settler can acquire any
rights under any of the general land
laws in any part of the belts SO long as
they remain withdrawn by Executive
order. There SEEMS says the Sec
rotary, ito be no valid reason why
these orders of withdrawal should not be
revoked" They are to be revoked, for
the Secretary's plans for restoring the
belts to the public domain have been
approved by the President
The action taken by Mr.. Cleveland
in relation to these lands will be re-
garded hereafter as one of the greatest
achievements of his Administration.
For fifteen years broad belts of public
| land, covering in the aggregate 10O,-
900, 600 acres or tract equal in extent
to the area of the four Middle States
and the six New England States, have,
| by orders of the Interior Department,
been closed to settlers to serve the con-
venience of powerful corporations and
to enable these corporations to Cypress
those who might try to make homes
within the boundaries. These indem-
nifty belts should not be COMPOUNDED
with the grant belts. In the indem-
nifty belts the corporations have never
had any rights by law except the right
to select comparatively small num-
Der of sections in the grant belts. The
boundaries of the indemnity belts were
| specified, not in order that the copora-
tons might control the lands included
| by them, but simply to restrict the
area within which they were allowed
to select sections in lieu of those in the
grant belts which had been acquired
by settlers before the passage of the
granting acts.
| And yet the Interior Department
was for years 50 completely under the
control of these corporations that all
of these indemnity belts-containing
perhaps fifty sections which the cor
porations could never acquire by law
for every one section which they could
lawfully take to make good their losses
in the grant belts were promptly
withdrawn from settlement by depart
ment officers and have remained closed
until this day. As we have said. this
was not done simply to suit the con.
| venience and caprices of these heavily
subsidized corporations. The evidence
shows that it was done for another
| purpose IS well. Settlers could not &C
upon these lands and obtain title from
| the Government under the Homestead
and Presumption laws, but they did &c
on with the hope of making reasonable
terms with the corporations, for, al
though the corporations knew that
they could never legally obtain title to
more than a small number of sections
they undertook to exercise control
over the whole area. They had not
picked out their sections. Who could
tell where these selections would be
made? A hoggish corporation would
prefer to pounce upon settlers I'M
proved farm if it could find one. II
was the efforts of some hundreds OF
fa9mers living in an indemnity belt,
who had been oppressed by one OF
these corporations, that caused the
! present Land Commissioner TO decide
that Miller was entitled to his farm,
and to direct that indemnity selections
must be made upon vacant land. But
before this action had been taken the
corporations had worked their will
with the unfortunate farmers and had
exacted payment in many cases fol
land to which they could not give clear
title. All this jobbery must now cease.
The companies must take their legal
share, and in the remainder of this
great tract of 100, 900, coo acres the set.
tier will be able to secure title from
the Government under the genera
land laws.-Ns Y. Times.
| -
BLAINE'S DEFEAT.
| Fair Statement Of thu Causes That De-
f>utoA the p3unned